H7N9 vaccines will be available in August: pharmaceutical firm

2013/04/24 23:08:04

Several lawmakers visit vaccine productions of Adimmune Corp. April 15.

Taipei, April 24 (CNA) A local pharmaceutical company said Wednesday it will be able to produce vaccines against the new H7N9 avian flu virus in August, amid pubic concerns over Taiwan’s first reported case of the deadly flu.

Pan Fei, a spokesman for the Adimmune Corp., said the company applied to the World Health Organization and the United States Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on April 2 to obtain the H7N9 vaccine strain.

It is estimated that the CDC will be able to complete production of virus strain by the end of May, and it will be shipped to Taiwan in early June, Pan said.

After the virus strain arrives in Taiwan, the company will begin work on developing the vaccine and will test it on animals, he said.

“It is estimated that the vaccine will be ready in August at the earliest,” Pan said.

He said the company will work with the government to combat the virus by mass producing the vaccine on a scale of about 3 million doses a month.

The Central Epidemic Command Center on Wednesday confirmed Taiwan’s first imported case of H7N9 – a 53-year-old Taiwanese businessman who had recently returned from Suzhou, Jiangsu in China.

In response, the Taipei City Government announced upgraded contingency measures, saying it has designated 17 medical institutions as quarantine hospitals and set up a special hotline 2375-3782.

Meanwhile, insurance companies said Wednesday they will accept compensation claims for H7N9 cases.